1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to an image formation apparatus and one suitably employed for an electrophotographic printer, for example.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional image formation apparatus uniformly charges the surface of a photoreceptor drum as an image carrier and exposes the surface with an exposure device to form an electrostatic latent image. The image formation apparatus then charges toner as the developer and causes the charged toner to adhere to the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image. Subsequently, the image formation apparatus transfers the toner image formed on the surface of the photoreceptor drum onto paper as a medium and fixes the toner image, thus printing an image.
In many image formation apparatuses, toner is stored in a replaceable toner cartridge. In connection with this, there is an image formation apparatus proposed which detects the amount of toner remaining in the toner cartridge and prompts the user to replace the toner cartridge when the amount of toner remaining becomes small (see Patent Literature 1, for example).
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 9-54488 (FIG. 1)